Plates



UNITE STATES PATENT EEIcE.

\VALTER BENTLEY \VOODBURY, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TC FREDERICK NEVILL CLARKE, OE SAME PLACE.

PRODUCING GELATINOUS PRINTING-PLATES.

SPECIFECATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 310,&86, dated January 6, 1885.

Application filed February 16, 1884.

(N0 specimens.) Patented in Belgium November 14, 1879, No. 40,819, June 9, 1880, X0. 51,708,

and July '7, 1881, No. 55,113; in France November 15, 1879, No. 133,677, and in England June 10, 1881, No. 2,527.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER BENTLEY IVOODBURY, of London, England, have invented a certain new and useful Method or Process of Producing Photographic Gelatinous Printingllates; and I do hereby declare that the following specification is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

This invention has been patented in Europe as follows, to wit: Great Britain, June 10, 1881, No. 2,527; addition dated March 26, 1880, to French Patent No. 133,677, Novenr ber 15,1879, and in two additions, June 9, 1880, No. 51,708 E, and July T, 1881, No. No. 55,118 B to Belgian Patent, November 14-, 1879, No. 49,819 B.

A photographic gelatinous printing-plate produced by me in accordance with my invention is novel, in that the printirig-surface thereof is coated with metal foil, preferably tin-foil, and in some cases said plates are pro vided with a thin layer or film of eaoutchouc interposed between the foil and the gelatinous matter, and in other cases I electroplate the foil printing-surface, and it is to be understood that such photographic printingplates are included, broadly, within the claims of my application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 103,320, and are specifically claimed in my application, Serial No. 121,310,1iled herewith, and bearing the Serial X0. 121,310, as a division of my prior application No. 103,326. For producing these platesI proceed as follows: I prepare upon a plate of glass a gelatinous printing-surface of any design or picture by means of light, as by the ordinary and wellknown processes of photography, and upon said surface I place a sheet of metal foil, and over that a sufficient number of thicknesses of blotting-paper or other soitsheeted smoothsurfaced material, and then pass the whole through an ordinary roller-press, or apply sufficient pressure in any manner, so as to force or press the foil into intimate contact with every part of the photographic design on the surface of the gelatinc, and thereby develop on the surface of the foil every line and detail of said design.

When semi-transparent colors are to be employed in printing, as in what is known as the VVoodbury process, I prepare the gelatinous foil-ooated plates from photographic foundatious, as follows: I prepare a gelatinous compound composed, preferably, of, say, four hundred and fifty parts gelatine, water eighteen hundred parts, glycerinc sixty parts, sugar forty-five parts, and a small quantity of liquid india-ink. Thin sheets of this compound are formed-on plates of glass or other similarly-surfaced material, thoroughly dried, and then stripped therefrom. When required for use, these sheets are sensitized by a bath of bichroinate-of-potash solution of a strength of, say, six per cent, and properly dried. A sheetthus sensitized and mounted upon a solid back is exposed to the light under a photographic positive, (or a negative, as the case may be,) and then developed in warm water, wherein the soluble parts are washed away in a manner well known, leaving the photographic design in relief, whereupon the plate is washed with strong spirit, which ab sorbs the water from the gelatinous matter and speedily causes it to dry. \Vhen properly dried, the surface is coated with a thin solution of caoutchouc in benzole or other suitable solvent, and thereon a sheet of tinfoil is laid and subjected to pressure, as before described, for developing the photographic design upon the surface of the foil, which serves as the printing-surface. 1V hen said foil coated photographic gelatinous printing-plates are to be relied uponfor extensive printing service, 1 deposit upon the foil-surface, in a manner common to electroplating, a layer of metal harder than the foil, such as copper or nickel.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The methodof producing photographic gelatinous printing-plates by first developing a photographic design upon a sheet of gelatinous matter, then drying and mounting said sheet upon a solid back, and then coating the surface of said sheet with tin-foil applied thereto'under pressure, for developing on the surface of the foil the photographic design, and thereby affording a metallic printing-sun face for reproducing said design, substantially as described.

2. The method of producing foil-coated photographic gelatinous printing-plates by applying between the foil and the gelatinous foil and developing said design on the surface matter a thin layer or film of caoutchouc, and of said foil by pressure, and then eleetroplat- IO then subjecting the foil to pressure, subsl'zmingsaid foil-surface,substantiallyasdescribed.

iially as described. R v a i T v 5 3. The method of producing photographic BEATLLY OODBTJR gelatinous printing-plates by first developing Vitnesses:

a photographic design upon a sheet of gelati- HENRY J.FULLER,

nous matter, then coating said sheet with Smr. P. \VILDING. 

